Deadpool: Reynolds Gets It Right [St. Jane Archives]

I’ll admit, going into Deadpool I had some pretty high hopes. Growing up a comic book fan, I was well aware of the character and he has always been a personal favorite of mine. Fast forward to the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and I watched in shock as my favorite anti-hero was absolutely butchered on screen. Fast forward again to 2016, and here we are. Ryan Reynolds promised us a faithful adaptation of the character we all grew up reading so long ago, and I’m here to tell you that he delivered.

The plot is a relatively simple origin story, acting as a way to introduce the character to audiences. Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is a mercenary in love when he finds out he has cancer. Really bad cancer. So he turns to drastic means and undergoes experiments. Long story short, Deadpool is born and he’s on a hunt for vengeance against the men that ruined him.

The story is pretty straightforward, without any twists really. Normally this would bother me as I’m a stickler for story, but for some reason here I didn’t mind. It’s an origin story, so I wasn’t expecting some crazy new groundbreaking plot. I was expecting a solid, easy to follow story that shows Wilson’s rise to the Deadpool character we know and love. And that’s exactly what it did. The weak story actually let the character of Deadpool really shine. Because let’s be honest, we didn’t come to this movie to see some crazy ride full of shocks and twists. We bought tickets to watch Deadpool dance around the screen cracking jokes and kicking ass.

Besides the story, everything else in the movie was genuinely top notch. Great acting all around (including the new Colossus, who was PERFECT). But again, this isn’t exactly the type of movie you come to watch for the acting. Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised by what was delivered. So kudos to everyone for that.

The main star of the show, Ryan Reynolds, undeniably nailed the character. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this was the best adaptation of the character ever done (not that there’s been many). Remember back when the first Iron Man came out? Remember how Robert Downey Jr. instantly slipped into the role of Tony Stark? This is exactly like that. Everything about the character was spot on; the jokes, the mannerisms, the fighting. Everything was spot on and I absolutely cannot wait to see what Reynolds does with the character in Deadpool 2.

I think one of the unsung heroes from this movie were the special effects. A pretty big issue in Hollywood lately has been the unnecessary use of CGI. It’s almost always used poorly and detracts from the movie experience. This was not the case. While there weren’t a lot of big set pieces, the ones that were present were brutal and fast paced. More importantly, they were, for lack of a better term, pretty. Credit should also be given to the stunt choreographers. Deadpool featured some of the most enjoyable fight scenes from any superhero movie ever. Like I said, they were brutal and fast paced, but also entertaining.

I didn’t want to write a review ala my Hateful Eight one, where I did nothing but praise the movie. But I just couldn’t help it. Deadpool is, without a doubt, worth the hype. Reynolds and his team completely nailed the character and I’m excited to see where they take it next. Despite a fairly weak, predictable story, the movie is able to move along briskly and keep you thoroughly engaged. It also gives me hope for future R-rated movies. With the success of Mad Max and now Deadpool, we can only hope studios finally see that there is profit to be made from mature movies.